In Wisconsin there is a city that has thrived on tourist travel and was helped built by a man who would hate the tourist destination it has become today. The Wisconsin Dells is a tourist mecca in Wisconsin and has thrived for many years as a tourist destination. H.H. Bennett helped it become that tourist destination through his publication of the natural beauty that is in the Wisconsin Dells. The Wisconsin Dells has continuously evolved over the past 100 years that has helped it grow to one of the Midwest’s greatest travel destinations and the “Waterpark Capital of the World.” The evolution of this city is essential to the complete understanding of the Wisconsin Dells history, and to reveling the truth behind if H.H. Bennett would be proud of the Wisconsin Dells of today.
Mirror editor Alanson Holly says in 1856, “We conclude that the wild, romantic scenery of the Dells will make them a place of resort for seekers of pleasure.” Alanson Holly was onto something that many of the early settlers of Wisconsin Dells felt. The Wisconsin Dells was the travel destination to relax and see natural beauty in Wisconsin. The focus of the Wisconsin Dells has always been that of relaxation and enjoyment. Many have credited H.H. Bennett to the boom of tourism in the Wisconsin Dells but many have also made the wrong assumption that H.H. Bennett would love that there are over 3 million Wisconsin Dells visitors that go there each year in present day.
The biggest cause of this issue is that the industry that the Wisconsin Dells was built on has fundamentally changed. It wasn’t a place where people would go to fancy restaurants, lavish condominiums, waterparks, or shopping centers. The Wisconsin Dells was a place of relaxation and appreciation of nature’s works there. Vacation time has drastically changed as well over time. Most stays in the Dells today range from an afternoon to a weekend. During H.H. Bennett’s lifetime it wasn’t uncommon for people to stay at least two weeks in the Wisconsin Dells. Fundamentally Wisconsin Dells has changed into a tourist mecca because of all the reasons people were not going to visit in the past. There was advancement, building of structures, destroying of natural resources, and an overhaul of the cities meaning from a beautiful landscape city to the “Water capital of the world.”
This all is important to the understanding of how the Dells became the city it is today as well as understanding the man that H.H. Bennett was. He didn’t want people to come to the city to go to waterparks or stay indoors. He would be disappointed with what the primary focus of what the Dells has become today. Understanding why the Dells is the way it is today you can fully begin to embrace the way that nature, as well as, recreation has changed entirely over the last 100 years in Wisconsin. Thus giving you a deeper understanding of how Wisconsin has progressed into the state it is today.
Wisconsin Rediscovered 